Memphis guitar session player, Reggie Young (82), passed away a few days ago and leaves us with a string of guitar licks that are not merely memorable, but are the signature riffs of some of the most significant hit songs of our time.
The Brotherhood of the Guitar, a brainchild of rock photographer, Robert Knight, backed by Fender Guitars, Guitar Center and Ernie Ball is gaining traction and beginning to launch into it’s own guitar movement.
The Kentucky-bred hard rockers in Black Stone Cherry have had their music blared from speakers large and small, toured relentlessly with the likes of Nickelback and Motörhead, and debuted at #1 on the UK rock chart with their sophomore release, 2008’s Folklore and Superstition.
A 13-foot steel, glass, and bronze sculpture of a PRS Santana signature guitar was unveiled in front of the House of Blues Las Vegas in Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino this week in honor of the House of Blues first resident and long-time PRS artist, Carlos Santana.
It’s hard to pick out the best decades for the ‘guitar gods’. Some might say that the best era for sheer virtuoso playing and soloing was the 1970s and the 1980s, before excess for excess’s sake became a bit out dated.
The SKH Music Group told us that the Vehicle Production Group, a brand new American car company that designs, engineers, and distributes specialty vehicles, has altruistically gifted a brand new MV-1 to Leslie West.
Guitar teachers are always telling students to practice. You come in for your lesson having neglected structured studies in favor of jamming to your favorite tunes for the past week, and your teacher looks at you all disappointed that you flubbed an A Dorian scale. But did you really waste your time? Absolutely not.
Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” has, along with Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man,” the most famous riff in hard rock. That “duh, duh, duh…. duh, duh, duhduh… duh, duh, duh… duh, duh…” is one of the first riffs learned by almost every budding guitar player, and for good reason. Just try to get it out of your head. Go ahead, try. Yeah, that’s right, it’s still in there. And you didn’t even hear the riff; you just read some idiot’s text interpretation of it.
It’s easy to stay in the box, to not explore and discover new ways of playing guitar or to come up with new ways to amp up your career aspirations. But, if we check out the way legendary guitarist Les Paul approached his guitar passion and life, I believe we can all take inspiration from “Rhubarb Red” and continually re-think or even out-think the challenges that we face in our music and our lives. If we emulate the life of Les Paul, we find ourselves on a path that reflects high-intensity curiosity, demands a “Can Do” attitude that’s followed-up with disciplined action – leading us to both small and grand success.
Jam sessions can be a guitarists best friend or their worst nightmare. I’m sure many of have stories of nights when a big-name musician was traveling through town and decided to sit in with us at the corner bar, making for an unforgettable night of music. But, there are also those jam sessions where the participants have spent too much time with a bottle of scotch or not enough time in the practice room, or both, and their 12 minute version of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” almost made us want to quit music.
